Shabby Chic; Volume III

Muppet81

Beautiful!

janb5

I don't think you are allowed to do that?


Post seems to have disappeared- person wanted to sell furniture on here- reported to MSE.

lucywillow

Hello,

I'm hoping the wealth of experience on this thread can help me solve my latest DIY dilemma.

I have an old pine dining table which I'm in the process of giving a makeover. I've painted the legs in Crown 'sidewalk' paint and they've come up really well. However the table top is a patchy orange colour. It doesn't appear to be varnished so I gave it a sand down but I can't get rid of the orange. I'm wondering if the original coating was a wood stain/dye which has penetrated into the grain. Can I cover it up with another stain or varnish? I would like a medium oak colour.
I spent all afternoon today trying to cover it with a colron oak wax but it was streaky with orange showing through so I've now stripped all that off again. Arrgh! all day and I'm back to where I started:mad:
Any suggestions/advice would be most gratefully accepted.
Thanks

choille

You can lighten wood using oxalyic acid but it is a method used for getting out dark/black marks really.

If you scrape the wood with a piece of broken glass held firmly in two hands, or a blade from a plane then it can get it off if it isn't too deep.

Frith

I want to update my stairs - 1970s orangey varnish in an early Victorian cottage!

Does anyone know where i could buy small pieces of arts and crafts or similar style wallpaper? Thinking of painting treads white then papering risers (if thats the right word for the step up bits!)

Metranil_Vavin

It's a slow process as even though the AS chalk paint saves a ton of time with not needing to sand/prep etc, as OH and I both work, finding the time is challenging!

This is what I have done so far. I'm really pleased with how it looks, we're changing the handles too and it makes such a difference.

Just hope the chalk paint is durable enough for my 2 DC's (4 and 18 months), as they give everything a run for its money!

cbsexec

That looks lovely. Are you going to wax or just leave painted. I hope to do this myself using AS paints but didnt know if you have to put anything over the top of the paint.

choille

It looks really lovely.

Could you tell me where you got your work top from? It looks great too.

moments_of_sanity

I hope you don't mind me popping in to ask you a question...

I have covered MDF cupboard fronts and the front 'plastic' fronts can be taken off leaving just the fresh MDF underneath but I want to paint them this summer, can you tell me how to prep the doors and what is this 'AS paint' you have mentioned?

The pictures you have posted showing your kitchens have really inspired me to get on with doing mine, my only concern is my 2 border collies, 2 cats and 2 teenage Daughters....not sure which of these creatures is the worst for making a mess! :rotfl:

Metranil_Vavin

choille - the worktops were from Howden's from memory. They were quite cheap to buy as I recall, although this is going back about 9 years ago!

cbsexec - I have used the AS Clear Wax over the top, but I'm still struggling to get a good finish with it. I don't personally like it much as it's quite tough to work with (or maybe it's just me!), so I am using a different wax I happened to have called Colron Refined finishing wax, which is far less lumpy and seems to go on better. I'd be happy to leave the paint un-waxed to be honest, but I think it's just going to chip and flake too easily without any kind of protective layer.

m_o_s - AS is Annie Sloan paint. It's a brand of chalk paint that is very popular, mainly because you don't actually need to do any prep before you use it! You can just paint it on to most surfaces saving a load of the hassle of sanding/priming etc. If you Google it, it'll give you loads more info and exactly what you can use it on etc